In December 2005 people were told that stations in the Thames Valley area were to be made better.[3]

On 1 March 2011, Philip Hammond MP, (the UK Government's Secretary of State for Transport) said that he had made plans for making the Great Western main line electric from Didcot to Swindon, and Bristol Temple Meads and Cardiff, through Bath Spa and Chippenham. The Department's reading said that new electric trains would be made by Hitatchi. The electrification had first been told by the last Labour Government's Transport Secretary, Lord Andrew Adonis..[4]